dance with me!! Duck and Jadeite tango

[OOC] Global: Nephrite has set the Scene Pose.

Although most people will laugh it off as a television stunt later, it certainly feels very real at the time. The sky goes dark, darker than ink, as though it were a black abyss into which one might fall upwards, never to be seen again. Clouds twine, tormented into a twisted spiral that churns with violet lightning, and burns with nascent power. The wind is icy, virtually a weapon all on its own, blasting food carts onto their sides, tearing umbrellas away, and tousling hairstyles beyond recognition.

But it's the gigantic face in the sky that really answers the question of whether or not this could possibly be natural. His lines are long and aristocratic, from the steely glint to his emerald eyes to the regal arch of his nose. His hair falls from his brow in magnificent waves, a crown finer than any metal or jewels could hope to be wrought. His noble neck is largely hidden by the high collar of his uniform -- dove gray, with red epaulettes and golden piping, it harkens back to a bygone era of nobility, civility, ability...

(also, evil)

"I am Nephrite," he purrs, his luscious voice rumbling across all of Tokyo, louder than any thunder. "And I claim the spire called Infinity in the name of my Dark Queen."

The image fades away, but the darkness only continues to rise, like a throbbing in the air, tension overwhelming.

For the moment, all is normal in Tama. The challenge has been delivered, but battle has not been joined. Infinity Institute stands tall, a skyscraping monument to learning, full of students and teachers in dire need of protection.

Who will defend it?

OOC: Magical girls, please pose in and be transformed no later than the end of your pose -- then the baddies will show up, and then we'll split everyone up into a couple of rooms!

<Pose Tracker> Duck [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.

	Funny thing about fairy tales; the weather rarely lines up with reality.
	Which is why it's so strange, really, that the sky darkens in Gold Crown Town, too. Duck had been hurrying back to the ballet students' dorms after being kept back by Mr. Cat for poor performance -- /again/ -- when the evening sky was replaced by ink and sorrow. Princess Tutu had hatched from her egg, and she'd spent a good amount of time leaping and pirouetting across the roofs of the Germanic hamlet to try and chase down the source of the black, before she came to the gates of the town.

	Which still, inexplicably, lead to an elevator. Not that it doesn't make sense or anything -- of course towns can be put on towers.

	Princess Tutu waits patiently in the elevator as it goes down to the rest of the tower, which is, you know, kind of an entertaining mental image. But once the doors open, she leaps through an open window, a single vine sprouting up to support her en pointe toe as she balances there, with impossible grace, for one long moment.
	If one were to look up, they might see her, there, the prima donna watching the sky, every muscle of her body held like a high note as she watches for the next move.

	Or perhaps, they'd see a swan. She is, after all, the spirit of dance, the guardian called 'Princess Tutu'.


<Pose Tracker> Jadeite [None] has posed.
When Jadeite was given dominion over this land, in the name of the Queen, there was no Tokyo here. The Edo that preceded it did not exist. The word "Nihon" meant nothing to anyone. It's difficult to say that this nation has anything in common with the territory that Jadeite, as Heavenly General of the Far East, was given to defend and control. But as he steps out through the portal alongside his fellow Shitennou, and gazes down at the great tower of Infinity, with mountains on one horizon and a vast metropolis on another, he cannot help but feel a sense of homecoming... and jealousy.

There is a reason that a salesman will place an item in your hand at every opportunity. Once you've held it once, you are reluctant to give it up.

Tall, smirking, with a short wavy mane and two ruby-colored earrings, Jadeite steps up alongside Nephrite, folding his arms as he stares down at the sputtering, ostentatious heart and the assortment of magical girls beneath it. "How vulgar. To think that our great Kingdom of Earth has been reduced to sending children to fight its battles." Dressed in the same military grays as Nephrite, with pleat-backed white gloves and the high boots of a cavalry officer, Jadeite bespeaks the elegant brutality of an earlier martial age.

"If this is the best they have," Jadeite addresses his fellows, including Pisard and Dark Precure, "the most difficult challenge tonight may be in avoiding conquering the entire country in one night. Remember your mission," he admonishes the others.

<Pose Tracker> Duck [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.

	Fiends step out from an unnatural portal, in the dark sky. They speak of their mission, of conquering the world, and yet...

	... one touches another, a familiar gesture, and Princess Tutu knows that they are surely just misguided. "How terrible," she murmurs, from her high position on one single, flowering vine; there is no malice in her voice.
	Only sadness.

	Hers is not the only power which expresses through flowers; below, she sees the petals which spiral towards one of the -- attackers. It's interesting, but it's not at the forefront of her mind.

	Her legs extend almost horizontal as she leaps, and a beautiful fern sprouts from the ground to cushion her landing, near the one called 'Jadeite' (not that she knows that). "Please," she speaks, reaching out to him with a hand, "why do you march on us? What could possibly have happened to make you dress for war...?" Kindness in her eyes, kindness in her voice. Doesn't she know this is the battle for everyone's souls?

COMBAT: Duck has used Acknowledge Your True Feelings! on Jadeite.
COMBAT: Duck has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Jadeite narrowly dodges Duck's Acknowledge Your True Feelings!, taking 8 Fatigue damage!  Jadeite is Quipped!  Jadeite's Fade ability activates!  Jadeite's Flash ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Nephrite [None] has posed.
Infinity Institute itself seems to be standing up against the battle that has come to its doorstep; the occasional stray blast that heads towards the shining edifice seems to splash against a very tangible, if normally invisible, barrier. It sparkles like rainbows when it is struck, colors rippling in all directions from the point of impact. It's an open question whether this is simply the will of the magical girls defending the place, manifest as a very real shield, or if this is something else entirely. It isn't totally impermeable, but it's definitely an impressive ward, one way or another.


<Pose Tracker> Jadeite [None] has posed.
Jadeite grins at Zoisite's comment without looking at him, continuing to gaze at his foes. "Careful, little brother," he says, despite the barbs Zoisite layered on afterwards. "They might begin to think you actually like them, given how you've been acting." A veiled reference to Zoisite's recent curricular habits.

Breaking away from the group, Jadeite lands lightly in front of Starbooks Coffee, one knee to the ground, one forearm over the opposite knee. As he rises, he laughs at Shiori. "Perhaps I did attack a hatchery," he allows, as vines approach him at breakneck speed. "But I did not expect the EGGS to defend it!" Jadeite throws a palm out, and a black ripple like a visible soundwave erupts from it, shattering through the vines and going straight on through to Shiori, an invisible fist of pure force. The central part of the vines disperse, but the attack was broader than his own, and several others lash about Jadeite's biceps and ankles, forcing him to tear at them with his gloved hands.

"And here's the tiniest white egg," he observes, watching Princess Tutu approach daintily, elegantly. But she does not attack, only reach out, speak. "I never make a point to dress for war," he sneers back. "I am Jadeite, Heavenly General of the Far East, and I am always ready to make war on Earth's enemies." He readies his telekinetic blast again, aiming it at her, but instead he falters a moment at the sincerity in her eyes. "Defend yourself," he demands, the power in his hand increasing.

Only for a knee, sailing down from championship heaven, to put to rest any more complex thoughts. Jadeite whirls to fire off his blast at Diva Heart instead, right up into her charge, but she knees directly through it without so much as a scratch and slams into his chest, driving him up against the rainbow shield, which fizzes and pops against his back. "You think you are a warrior?" he grates, grabbing for her neck before she can disengage. "I will show you war." Rising to his feet (with Diva's neck in his hand if he's managed it), he lifts his other hand palm up and draws the fingers in slowly. A telekinetic field springs up around Shiori, crushing her inward from all directions. The gentlest girl he leaves alone... for now.
COMBAT: Jadeite has used Sublime Arrogance on Diva Heart.
COMBAT: Jadeite has used A High School Crush on Shiori Takatsuki.

<Pose Tracker> Duck [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.

	"Earth's enemies?" Princess Tutu's voice is concerned, sincere. She isn't in Gold Crown Town, and so her translated honorifics are entirely Japanese as she gestures to the young women who have gathered here. "But Jadeite-san, all these people have come here to try and protect their home. We are all part of the Earth, too!" Her voice is so tragically sincere.
	She does not move to attack -- only leaps out of the way of an errant energy-blast, twirling in the air before she lands with her hands delicately held at her waist.

	"We're not your enemies," she calls out to him, "we're just afraid. If you fight against the enemies of the Earth -- do you know something we don't? Is there something important you have to defend us against? I want to understand!"

COMBAT: Duck has used Please Talk With Me! on Jadeite.
COMBAT: Duck has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Jadeite narrowly braces Duck's Please Talk With Me!, taking 2 Fatigue damage!  Jadeite is Quipped!

<Pose Tracker> Honoka Yukishiro [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

The ward around Infinity Institute continues to hold, but it does provide a most dazzling display, its rainbows sparkling up and down the fifty-two-story length with increasing regularity as the battle rages on. There is a clear sense of building power (if you'll pardon the pun), perhaps simply the land itself absorbing the remnants of every bolt of darkness, every beam of light, every word of power or word of empowerment. It provides a heady feeling, like one's ears after climbing a mountain then descending once again -- in desperate need of a good pop.

<Pose Tracker> Jadeite [None] has posed.
Jadeite holds Diva Heart at arm's length, fingers digging into her throat, and uses the respite to address Princess Tutu, who seems to have gotten under his skin enough to get him talking. "You wish to understand? So be it! We Four Generals are the rulers of this planet. I am the ruler of this nation of Japan, and much else besides. Your powers, your government, your way of life are all nothing but an impediment to the restoration of the greatest kingdom the universe has ever known. You languish like pigs in your own filth. I will rescue you if I have to kill you all."

Diva Heart's palm swings down, and he turns just in time to face it, making no effort to defend himself. His cheekbones feel like stone, and his face doesn't even tilt under the blow. Even as it cracks into his cheek he keeps eye contact with Diva Heart, grinning fearsomely. "Scorn," he says with slow relish. "Scorn is the only appropriate response to your so-called power."

Shiori's rose sails down, and Jadeite's eyes narrow rapidly as he pulls his arm back rapidly and simply hurls Diva Heart directly at it, letting her deal with the explosion from her apparent ally however she may, the sparkles raining down harmlessly around him. "Whoever told you you were capable of combat?" he challenges Shiori. "You aren't even worth draining." Raising his palm again, he fires a brief, powerful telekinetic blast at Shiori, seeking to drive her away to buy himself some time.

"You, on the other hand," he says, his voice dropping into a deep, cruel register as he turns to Princess Tutu. "Your heart is overflowing, isn't it?" Lifting a palm again, Jadeite this time summons a small, swirling ball of mother-of-pearl darkness, which begins to draw in tendrils of energy from the surrounding area, seeking to drain the ballet-clad girl. "It will make a precious gift for the Queen."

COMBAT: Jadeite has used Cruel Innocence on Diva Heart.
COMBAT: Jadeite has used Blasted Senshi on Shiori Takatsuki.
COMBAT: Jadeite has used Plan A on Duck.
COMBAT: Jadeite has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Duck fails to dodge Jadeite's Plan A, taking 11 Mana damage!  Critical Hit!  Jadeite drains 8 mana from Duck!

<Pose Tracker> Duck [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.


	"I know it's hard, coming back to something after a long time," Tutu says, stepping so lightly, it's almost as if gravity has no hold on her. She dances closer to Jadeite, and though it's clear that she doesn't approve of the violence around her, she continues trying to reach out to him. "Coming back to your home after so long must be so painful, all the new people, none of them remembering you... but please, this isn't the way. You cannot help people by hurting them..."

	(Be careful about what you say, little duck. You might regret those words.)

	Princess Tutu pirouettes, landing near the General's side. "Jadeite-san, please, do you truly wish to do this? Earth is important to all of us. If we could just talk--"

	And oh, he talks. He talks about her heart, a gift for a Queen...

	Princess Tutu covers her heart with a hand as trepidation registers on her gentle face, stepping back, grace in every footfall. How, /how/ do her feet bend at those angles? "No," she shakes her head, bends her knees to spring away -- but it's too late.

	She screams.

	For an agonising moment, she is paralysed by the pain of it -- but Princess Tutu is more graceful, still, than this. She steps back, but even as she does, her arms reach towards Jadeite as if to embrace him -- the mime for 'why'.

	There is pain in her eyes, but still, compassion.

COMBAT: Duck has used Please Understand!! on Jadeite.
COMBAT: Duck has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Jadeite fails to brace Duck's Please Understand!!, taking 0 Fatigue damage!  Jadeite is Quipped!

<Pose Tracker> Jadeite [None] has posed.
Jadeite's eyes tilt with the wicked arch of his blond brows, his laugh tossing his head back, as Princess Tutu's boundless heart is drained. "Ahahaha! Perfect!" he gloats. "More energy than I was even expecting. And you will not even defend yourself? You really are a little white egg, aren't you?"

She can, however, move a lot faster than an egg, and if she'd wanted to strike him, it likely would have happened, as her airy, effortless dance brings her right next to him. "Get it through that thin shell of yours," he grates, finding her words more painful than the attacks of violence. "I am about to drain you and all your little friends. You will die." She answers with only a pose, lovely and mysterious, and though he knows nothing at all of the language of dance, somehow the question is as obvious as day; he doesn't even realize she didn't ask it aloud. "Why?! Because yours is a traitor dynasty, founded on a lie. The Queen of Earth has returned and she will take it for her own once more. You are the legacy of a foreign deceiver, and your powers sicken me." He holds out his orb again. "Your energy belongs to..."

A sonic agony pierces him, and Jadeite doubles over, covering his ears. "What... what was that?" he pants, casting about. It was so loud it made him see petals...

Wait, petals? Jadeite lunges to the side as Shiori charges forward again, gashing his side, opening his uniform so the white cloth inside it, and the red blood inside him, is exposed to the air. It's a minor cut, however, and as he turns with it he rains blows at Shiori's back, a quick combination with his fists and the blade of his hand. "Still here? Let me get rid of you more permanently."

But Diva Heart is back! Hooking her arm about Jadeite's neck, she sets him to backpedalling as he tries to avoid being choked or slammed to the ground. He backs right into the now weakening force field, which bends under his body much like a set of elastic ropes might. Using the force gathered, he rubberbands back, charging along with Diva Heart to hurl her back further, then chase her in an attempt to clothesline her to the ground.

Coming to a stop after this fails, he turns to face his foes. "You two," he says, addressing Diva and Shiori, "seem good at holding an opponent still. Perhaps you could hold the egg for me?" Clapping his hands together, he uses a burst of relatively soft telekinesis to try and force Shiori and Diva into Princess Tutu from either side, whereupon he resumes the voidal vacuum with which he's attempting to drain her very soul.

"Brown, is it?" he calls gaily to Nephrite. "Your nose is looking rather /bloody/ to me. Is this the sort of generalship North America is accustomed to? No wonder they are in such dire straits in this era." He intensifies the accursed inhalation, seeking to gather his prize quickly. "Tell me if you need some energy to beat those schoolchildren, I have more than enough."
COMBAT: Jadeite has used Stick Together on Diva Heart.
COMBAT: Jadeite has used Stick Together on Shiori Takatsuki.
COMBAT: Jadeite has used Plan A on Duck.

COMBAT: Duck fails to dodge Jadeite's Plan A, taking 13 Mana damage!  Critical Hit!  Jadeite drains 9 mana from Duck!

<Pose Tracker> Honoka Yukishiro [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

The sense of rising power is beginning to bring sweat to the air, a sense of weight that not even the icy wind can cleanse. The ward is shining ever more brilliantly as the battle increases in intensity; little rips and tears course through it, places that the endless rainbows are now struggling to /keep up/. They don't always get there in time; a glass or two is cracked along the mighty skyscraper's length.


<Pose Tracker> Duck [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.

	"Everyone makes mistakes, Jadeite-san," Princess Tutu implores, hands outstretched. She moves in bourree across the ground, small, quick steps which give the impression of gliding, as she reaches towards him with a genuine expression. "Misunderstandings happen. You don't have to hurt anyone, so please..."

	Before she can continue her impassioned speech, two other warriors of the heart are flung towards her. They both manage to deal with it, in their own ways -- but her shock as she turns to see it, a hand lifted picture-perfect to her mouth, leaves her open to another one of those draining strikes. This time, she at least manages to leap away -- only for the darkness to catch her mid-air, causing her to fall to the ground, the first graceless motion she's made during this entire fight.
	Perhaps that, itself, is even more satisfying than her keening cry.

COMBAT: Duck has used Acknowledge Your True Feelings! on Jadeite.
COMBAT: Duck has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Jadeite fails to dodge Duck's Acknowledge Your True Feelings!, taking 14 Fatigue damage!  Jadeite is Quipped!

<Pose Tracker> Jadeite [None] has posed.
Jadeite begins his renewed combat with Shiori with a superior smirk, but her sheer ferocity has him quickly taking the battle seriously, grimacing with concern. "The hell is /wrong/ with you?" he breathes, taking quick little flashes backwards, barely seeming to move his feet. He just scarcely dodges, losing a great deal of ground. "All this from..." he begins to curse her, but then he grins.

"Interesting," he says. This one scarcely seems like a magical girl at all. Perhaps she has some potential. Perhaps--a blade slices his forearm, a thick gash, and he sneers his pain. But he has an idea. An investment to make.

"No one will ever be impressed by /that/ power," he lies cruelly, and he flashes diagonally, firing a single, tight bullet of telekinesis, that rips rather than pushes. He flashes again, to another corner of her space. "You children are never brave enough to embrace true strength." He fires again, flashes again. "Until then you are not worth my time." A final burst. He'd continue, but...

Diva Heart! Sliding between his legs, the wrestler mounts his back and rips him off his feet in a glorious, beautifully brutal arc, slamming him down hard. It's going to crack his head right open. Gasping, entirely off balance, with little dignity, he reaches back desperately, and his hands connect with the pavement.

His palms smashing in with a tinkle of thrown pebbles and a crunch of shattered concrete, Jadeite strikes an uncomfortable arch with his body, making a bridge out of his own body and Diva Heart's. They both remain there for an agonizing moment, Jadeite wishing he were more flexible. Then, grimacing, he manages a faint smile.

"Goodbye, Diva Heart," he says. And drawing one knee up high, he slams it down right onto her shoulder, firing her like a torpedo at Starbooks, right through the shield.

Rolling to his feet, he pants, turning once more, inevitably, to the Little White Egg. Seeing her fall, scream, was very satisfying, but not, actually, due to sadism. No... Jadeite needed to believe she was wrong. Her untouchability was galling. What he needs is for her compassion to break, for her to answer to the language of violence.

"Get up," he barks. "Fight." Marching forward, he takes his final few steps as a sprint and tries to grab her wrist, to drain her via his palm. "Your compassion is a lie, just like Hers was." He glances at the sky briefly. "Only strength can defend a world."
COMBAT: Jadeite has used Break the Shell on Duck.
COMBAT: Jadeite has used Vicious Barbs on Shiori Takatsuki.
COMBAT: Jadeite has used Not Starbooks! on Diva Heart.
COMBAT: Jadeite has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Duck narrowly braces Jadeite's Break the Shell, taking 1 Mana damage!

<Pose Tracker> Duck [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.

	He storms forward to grasp her cruelly, to pull her up again.
	It will not be difficult. The pain of your heart's strength being torn away is not a pain Princess Tutu is used to -- they're simply not at that part of the story, yet. She is still fresh, and new, and innocent, and she should not be this good once she sees how dark the world is...

	That's what should happen, as she lies against the ground, crumpled in something which looks as if it was an /attempt/ at a graceful fall. It isn't difficult; she's not a particularly heavy girl, and she hardly resists, but to find her footing on the ground as he pulls her up. She stares into his eyes, tears at the corners of hers as the pain flows through her... and shakes her head, sadly.
	She won't try and flee, this time. Her heart is strong against the attempt, and once the offense passes -- more easier, now, now she's standing against it, actively defying it instead of running from it -- she slips her hand down through his grasp with a fluid motion, taking his hand in hers.

	"All of this has hurt you... but you mustn't take out your pain on others. There are better ways to make yourself be known--"

	-- 'stabbing someone' is one way to make something be known. Certainly Tutu has seen the blood before, but to have it so close -- she gasps, stepping back with those small, graceful steps. "Please, you mustn't kill him!" She cries out, stepping forward again, trying to take Jadeite's wrist much as he took hers -- but gently, so much more gently, as she tries to pull him back to a safer area. "I know that he must be reasonable," she continues, and looks into his eyes with those big, big blues. "Please, Jadeite-san. Won't you dance with me?"
	She bears no hatred towards him at all, as she tries to coax him into -- of all things -- a dance. It doesn't matter if he doesn't know how to dance. She'll guide him along.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Duck has used Dance With Me! on Jadeite.
COMBAT: Duck has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Jadeite narrowly counters Duck's Finisher, Dance With Me!, taking 35 Fatigue damage!  Jadeite is Quipped!
COMBAT: Jadeite's counterattack, Plan B, partially gets through, doing 7 Mana damage to Duck!

<Pose Tracker> Honoka Yukishiro [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.

Remember the sky?

The challenge came with the fall of night, when the starry veil was cast across the fading twilight. None of this was visible, however, beneath those spiraling clouds, that flickering lightning. The eye of the dark storm was, of course, the top of Infinity Institute.

And so it is that when it comes, it comes atop the spire.

It is golden, power incarnate. It is visible before it blasts the clouds out of existence, a gradually building pulse of incandescence, one that pierces through in a single beam, then another, then another and another and by the time 'anothers' have finished, there's nothing left of that ominous cover, there is only the light.

It dazzles, it blinds, it burns, it fills the heart with sheer, overwhelming feeling.

On Southern Cross Island, a maiden with dark hair and glasses looks up, squints, and takes a few crisp notes.

In Shimanouchi, a takoyaki stand owner gazes, slack-jawed, eyes wide as wide may be, shading her eyes even as she appreciates, and trembles at, the sight. Her grill begins to smoke, but she pays it no mind.

In Tama, a mother and father pause in their baking to each other close, and a sister and brother stop, mid-swing in their daily kendo practice, to hold each other still closer, hiding from something they do not, cannot understand.

Even after the spots clear from eyes of all colors, the corona remains, exultant in the sky, a cosmic phenomenon of epic proportions. An aurora, but of no borealis. A sunburst, but not of our sun.

It stretches from horizon to horizon, across Tokyo's length and breadth.

It is beautiful.

It is also terrible.

<Pose Tracker> Jadeite [None] has posed.
Well-satisfied at the apparent defeat of Diva Heart, Jadeite focuses on Tutu. He suspects that she is dead or crippled, and does not imagine she shall vex the forces of evil again.

But Tutu, while she does not resist physically, resists spiritually, and this time Jadeite can barely drain a drop of energy from her. "You," he growls, "you know nothing of sacrifice for a greater cause. My /feelings/ mean nothing to this. And when the Queen rises, it will be with your own energy empowering--"

He freezes as a ruthless whisper reaches his ears, his eyes going wide with fear. "You again," he murmurs, with no smugness this time. He twists around, still holding Duck's wrist, trying to slip out of the way of the dagger. His hand claps down on Shiori's, too late, finding it only when the dagger has already punctured him. "Kkch..." He glares at her, teeth clamped, not hearing Tutu anymore. The dagger is several inches into his side, but he's kept it from being a fatal blow.

"A coward's blow," he accuses, but there's a smile. "Perhaps you have some potential after all." Lifting his palm, he stiffens his wrist against the recoil as he prepares to pepper her with the same sharp blasts of force as before, this time at point blank range.

But Duck's admonition to Shiori draws a sharp burst of anger, and something in her motion is distracting. "Don't try and protect me, Egg. You..." His irises suddenly tremble, his mouth opening in a sort of fascinated terror, as she begins to dance. "What is this? Magic?" he demands, resisting, planting his feet, but his will begins to crumble. "Fine!" he snaps finally, and one foot slides out, one arm unfurls elegantly, and he joints the dance. "Dance to your death." Great black streamers of energy are being dragged from Princess Tutu every second she stays near him. His boots are surprisingly agile, at least under Tutu's influence.

"Stop it," he orders, disturbed, voice ragged. There's something martial in his dance; he's the Nutcracker tonight, and the precision of his motions is stern. He follows Duck's lead completely, even as he drains her constantly. She'll drop soon enough, he knows. But though she will die in a minute, he's not sure if he can last that long, before... before...

He rips his hand away from hers, wiping his eye with a sleeve. "Damn you? What--wh-what did you do?" The energy drain cuts off, and Jadeite's hands are quivering, his shoulders twitching. He glances around him. "The... the retreat." He looks back at Tutu for a moment, eyes filled with hate, and makes a mighty leap, sailing through the air to the portal his fellows are fleeing from.

<Pose Tracker> Diva Heart [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

As Jadeite vanishes, and things return to normal, Diva Heart comes staggering out of the front of Starbooks, holding her side and grimacing. She tromps across the street, grimacing all the way, and only when she's reached where the battle was taking place and done a slow 360-degree turn does she throw her head back and shout, "WHERE DID HE GO?!"

Face flushed red with frustration, she whirls on Shiori and proceeds to take that crap all right out on her. "I told you to leave him to me!" she shouts, hands balled into fists at her side. "All you did was get in my way and hit me with stupid flowers!!"


<Pose Tracker> Shiori Takatsuki [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

	"Me again," Shiori answers, and she /is/ a little smug this time. Her eyes narrow at his accusation, even as Jadeite might notice that behind the anger and the viciousness is a tiny glow that comes from some, /any/ praise. It hlds her for a moment, but she is not blasted for her trouble--instead, Duck calls to her... and the Princess's words /would/ get some sort of response.

	But for a few moment, Shiori too is mesmerized by the magic of the dance, by the way that it can happen even in the wake of all this. She shakes her head, sees the draining happening, sees...

	The sky. "What...?"

	It's still there? It's--no, that doesn't matter, that's not important. Jadeite is leaping away, and Shiori stares after, "No--get /back/ here you--!"

	"And /you/! Are you stupid or just crazy? He was killing you, and you got in my--"

	Diva Heart approaches and starts taking things out on her, and Shiori in return--

	Shiori lifts her blood-covered dagger, not threateningly, but just as she talks right back. It gleams in the light. It drips. "/Me/!? What useless brat got herself thrown into a /building/!? Who do you think you are!? That bounty's /mine/!"


<Pose Tracker> Diva Heart [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

Diva Heart sees the knife, opens her mouth, closes her mouth, looks at Shiori's forehead, opens her mouth, closes her mouth, and finally demands, as if every other issue is forgotten, "Why is your knife all bloody if you didn't blade?"

Beat. "Why do you have a knife?!" she shouts, recoiling into a ridiculous anime shock pose, her pigtails shooting up to stand on end.


<Pose Tracker> Duck [Infinity Institute (8)] has posed.

	Dance with me, to your death...

	The blackness strains at her, digging into her heart, but Princess Tutu doesn't back away. "I want to know about your true feelings!", she cries out, her pain tempered by her compassion. "What would drive you to do such a horrible thing...?"

	He does not answer.

	Perhaps it's good, in the end, that he left. Princess Tutu is left quivering, staggering -- she falls forward, body stretched over one outstretched leg, in a pose anyone would understand as 'ballerina'. It is all she can do to not simply collapse.

	She breathes like a warhorse. Fear edges at the gates of her heart, where it had pounded a moment before.
	Shiori is screaming at her.

	Princess Tutu raises her face up to look at her, and even the other magical girl's scorn is not enough to batter past Princess Tutu's insufferable kindness. "This was their home," she insists, quietly. "What they're doing is wrong, but... but they still... but you still...!"

	As Diva Heart and the True Feelings begin to bicker, the prima donna rises, shakily, a hand at her face. She turns, and she runs, leaping en pointe -- disappears into the streets.

	No one will find her.
	No one knows to look for a simple duck.